Earlier this week, AEW President Tony Khan went out of his way to perform some shameless corporate ass-kissing of Paramount CEO David Ellison, now that Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros (AEW’s long-time distribution partner) is imminent.
On a call with the media today ahead of this weekend’s (Sept. 26) All Out pay-per-view, Khan described himself as “the ultimate corporate soldier” while talking about how he has navigated all the leadership changes at Warner Bros. since AEW’s inception in 2019.
Here is what Khan had to say about his corporate skills and intuition, courtesy of Fightful’s transcript:
“I think this is exciting because we grew in a situation where the new corporate leadership in 2022, at that time, over four years ago, was something of an unknown entity to us and we really won them over immediately. It’s something I take a lot of pride in.
We’ve been through several different regimes here. When AEW launched, AT&T was still in charge and then it’s been a lot of change with Discovery coming in. There was a period of transition there during 2020, 2021, where a lot of changes were made before Discovery took over in 2022 and they’ve made a lot of changes over the years and for AEW, there have been changes for the better, clearly, as we’ve grown the company and expanded.
Now, we enter something that I consider more of a known quantity and I’m very excited about it. I think we’ve proven that AEW is a feather in the cap of a media company that we are a great partner, and for me, I’ll work to make sure that AEW fits in any corporate structure. I’ll work very hard, and I think I’ve proven time after time that I am the ultimate corporate soldier, and that is why AEW continues to grow and expand as the media landscape changes and I think that’s why Warner Bros., even as the company has evolved and changed, AEW has always been a very important part of the portfolio for years and years and I expect that’s gonna continue with AEW and Warner Bros. for many years to come.”
Khan makes it clear that he expects AEW’s relationship with Warner Bros. to continue and thrive now that Paramount is taking over. Despite Khan’s extreme confidence, most fans and analysts agree that it’s too early to tell whether this giant media consolidation will work out in AEW’s favor or not.
Does Khan’s confidence about how good this deal is for AEW’s future convince you that he’s probably right, or do you think it’s just a matter of time until this week’s corporate ass-kissing blows up in his face? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
